


Is The New Prince K Here To Stay?

by emilyenrose



Category: The Course of Honour - Avoliot
Genre: M/M, in-universe media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-28 04:27:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11410209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyenrose/pseuds/emilyenrose
Summary: Exclusive interview by Hani Sereson





	Is The New Prince K Here To Stay?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Course of Honour](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9720611) by [Avoliot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avoliot/pseuds/Avoliot). 



**Is The New Prince K Here To Stay?**

_Exclusive interview by Hani Sereson_

I’m late for my interview with Prince Kiem, everyone’s favourite royal, because I get lost. He and his partner have moved to a bigger suite of rooms in the other wing of the palace, with two studies, their own kitchen, and a spare bedroom. “I don’t really use the kitchen,” confesses Kiem when he sees me looking, “but Jainan makes me breakfast sometimes.”

Does he never return the favour?

“I tried once,” says Kiem, with the roguish grin familiar to everyone who’s followed his career of scrapes and scandals over the years. “The firemen made me promise never to do it again.”

What about the spare bedroom? It’s what everyone wants to know. The rumours have been flying ever since Prince Kiem got his startling new diplomatic appointment, suggesting that the Emperor has finally joined the rest of us in the fan club. Is there going to be an addition to the family for Iskat’s favourite love story?

Kiem laughs. “Come on, Hani!” he says. “I thought this interview was about my job?”

It is, in a way. Prince K’s appointment is to a brand-new post created by the Advisory Council last month. He’s got oversight over all aspects of Iskat-Thea relations from Iskat’s side, the kind of responsibility that usually takes  _years_ of diplomatic experience and back-room dealing to earn. Even his partner Count Jainan, Thea’s treaty principal on Iskat, doesn’t have the kind of broad brief that the Palace has given Kiem. “Well, it would be a bit of a waste,” says Kiem when I bring this up. “Jainan’s an engineer. He’s doing  _real_  work. All my job involves is talking to people, and, you know, I do that anyway!”

Is he enjoying it? Yes, he is. Prince K’s natural charm made him a tabloid favourite when he was still in his teens, and it looks like the Emperor has finally hit on the right fit for his talents. He talks fluently and eagerly about Thea’s resources, its beauty, its fascinating culture, its long history. He points out the gigantic green-and-white clan flag hanging on the wall. “It’s the Feria clan,” he says proudly. “Jainan’s. Isn’t it beautiful?”

The stiff silk flag, made on an alien world to honour a system of alliances and allegiances that sound very strange indeed to any Iskaner, is one of the most gorgeous things I have ever seen. Kiem spots that I’m interested and goes on, grinning, to explain the significance of the colours and what all the elements of the design mean. You heard it here first, everyone: our frivolous Prince K has an interest in Thean heraldry that is frankly  _nerdy_.

He’s the best advert for Iskaner-Thean relations I’ve ever heard. I’m fascinated, by him as much as the flag. Here’s what I really wanted to find out in this interview: is Kiem’s appointment, as most people assumed, just the Emperor trying to save face, using the popularity of the one member of her family who came out of the Saffer scandal looking good? Or has our Prince Charming finally grown up?

When I walked in I thought it had to be the first one. Now, as Kiem shows me photos of more flags and then pictures of lush Thean landscapes watered by gleaming rivers, I’m not so sure. For a man who cheerfully describes himself as ‘dumb as a rock’, he is surprisingly at home in the intricacies of clan politics, the complex details of the Unification, the benefits for Iskat and Thea alike.

The truth is that there has been more to Prince Kiem than meets the eye for some time now. It has been nearly a decade since what he refers to as the Monastery Episode. “I’m embarrassed by the whole thing now,” he says of the scandal that prompted his temporary exile. “I was a thoughtless kid, and I should have known better.” Did he like the monastery? “They made me be  _quiet_ ,” Kiem says, and winces theatrically. Then he laughs. “It was probably good for me.”

And maybe it was. The Kiem who returned from Eleviskara Monastery wasn’t any quieter than the one who left. He went straight back to the social whirl of the palace elite, the drinking, the dancing, the fleeting romances with beautiful ladies (and the odd beautiful gentleman) – as a long history of paparazzi photographs proves. But behind the scenes that apparently empty-headed socialite prince was quietly becoming one of the biggest forces in the Palace’s charity work. It is increasingly hard to find a major Iskaner charity that does  _not_ have Prince Kiem’s name in the list of patrons somewhere. He has his particular interests – environment, education, and lately he’s been focused on wider opportunities for imperial citizens who aren’t Iskaner natives – but those are just a sampling of his depth of involvement. In certain circles he is mainly known for his tireless commitment and his willingness to give not just his money but his time.

“Prince Kiem is the person to ask for help when you’re getting stonewalled,” says one source from a major educational charity who asked not to be named. “He doesn’t give up. He knows everyone, he likes everyone, and no matter what the problem is he can put you in touch with someone who can help. The knock-on effects can be huge. There are plenty of Iskaner communities where the children are going to school locally instead of fifty miles away for the sole reason that Prince Kiem was willing to listen to us when no one else would.”

All this charity work precedes Prince K’s marriage to Count Jainan by at least three years. His calendar is booked solid with fundraisers, receptions, and meetings, as well as the social events where he makes those all-important connections which he then puts to work for good causes. I suspect that one of the reasons their new apartment needs two studies is that Kiem, in his own ramshackle way, is working every bit as hard as his partner.

Kiem laughs at the suggestion. “It’s just parties,” he says. “I like parties!”

So perhaps the new Prince K with a serious career isn’t that new after all. Maybe we just haven’t been paying attention. But it’s not just the diplomatic appointment that is a big change for Kiem. Growing up is about more than just getting a job, and it’s with this in mind that I ask: so, how’s married life treating you?

“Very well, thank you!”

And how’s your partner?

This is a question that a lot of people have asked. Iskat has taken Count Jainan to its heart since the revelation of his horrifying treatment and the hands of the late and largely unlamented Prince Taam. Count Jainan turns down all interview requests – even from Thean outlets – citing the demands on his time as engineer in charge of the regolith extraction project. To be honest, I’m almost more interested in hearing how he’s doing than I am in interviewing Kiem.

I’m out of luck, though. “He’s very well too,” says Kiem cheerfully, and though I lead the conversation back around to Jainan half a dozen times, I never get any more out of him than that. By the sixth time I’m informed that Jainan’s very well, I am starting to feel suspicious. In the journalism world Prince K is known for being an easy interview. His dumb-as-rocks persona and willingness to tell the press anything and everything down to the colour of his underwear have given him a reputation for being manageable. But unless I’m very much mistaken, he’s stonewalling me right now – and doing it far more effectively than any Press Office stooge I’ve ever come up against.

“Have we been underestimating you?” I demand.

To his credit, Kiem doesn’t pretend not to know what I’m talking about. He just gives me a disarming smile. “I’ve never had anyone I wanted to protect before,” he says simply.

He does go on to explain that Count Jainan is an intensely private person, and having his life dissected in the newslogs is distressing for him. I remember my one time interviewing the man: even in a hospital bed recovering from torture and talking about some of the most painful memories a person could possibly have to share, he still had a certain inexpressible aura of dignity. The memory, along with Kiem’s words, almost makes me feel embarrassed for asking.

Besides, I think I know how Count Jainan’s doing. He is absorbed in an important and complex project worthy of his academic talents, married to a man who happily spent ten minutes explaining all the things he loved about Jainan’s  _clan flag_ to me, and who is now gently but firmly informing me that as far as he’s concerned, Jainan is off-limits as a topic of conversation until and unless Jainan himself says otherwise.

On the whole, I think, Count Jainan is probably all right.

I do catch one glimpse of him as I’m leaving the interview. He comes out of his study for a moment to say hello before I leave. He looks much better than he did last time I saw him, when that famous hospital bed photo was taken. He’s put on some weight, and he smiles when he sees me. In the privacy of his own home, he wears his long hair in a Thean-style braid; startling to Iskaner eyes, but it suits him.

He kisses Kiem’s cheek in passing, before he shakes my hand. We’ve all seen plenty of pictures of Kiem caught up in romantic flings: we’ve seen him flirtatious, fascinated, even besotted. But I get a look at his expression right now and it’s safe to say that we’ve never seen him like this.

It’s official, everyone. Prince Kiem has grown up.


End file.
